What with the hullabaloo in Yuwen Feng’s residence, a lot of people living nearby were woken up in the middle of the night, and news quickly spread that Yuwen Zhi, in league with a Gu master from South Xinjiang, had put a Gu worm inside his own son’s body with the intention to use him to approach and control Yuwen Tong.
Even a vicious tiger will not eat its cubs, but Yuwen Zhi had plotted to murder his own nephew at the cost of his own son’s life, which was an act of utter inhumanity.
Early in the morning, before daybreak, all the courtiers gathered at the front gates of the imperial palace, waiting to enter to attend the court meeting. Given that the emperor’s uncle was involved in this matter, it was as much a private affair as it was a state affair. Either way, it was not a trivial matter.
…
In the Infinite Fortune Palace.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had got up. They had both washed and, fully dressed, were breakfasting. Yuwen Tong would have to go to the great hall to preside over the court meeting after a while.
The night before the two of them had got to sleep very late. Yuwen Qi had died. Yuwen Zhi and the Gu master had been arrested. Yuwen Feng had sent the two of them to the palace to be tried at a court meeting. This matter had basically been settled already. All that was left was to pass the sentence at the court meeting, which would be a mere formality.
Ling Zhang accompanied Yuwen Tong to the court meeting and sat in a seat behind a curtain in the right corner of the hall.
Under the influence of that pill of Mr. Mu’s, the Gu master had been quite obedient. During an interrogation, he had made a full confession which covered all the details about his and Yuwen Zhi’s plans, including how he had made contact with Yuwen Zhi when the latter had been in the Court Prison, how he had helped Yuwen Zhi fake his illness in an effort to delay the enforcement of his exile sentence, how he had planted a Gu worm inside Yuwen Feng’s body in an attempt to use Yuwen Feng to approach and control Yuwen Tong with another Manipulation Gu so as to usurp the imperial power, and how he had put a Gu worm in Yuwen Qi and killed him. He’d confessed everything without keeping anything back.
Ling Zhang didn’t know how Mr. Mu had made this happen, and neither did he know what that pill was exactly, but with the Gu master’s confession, Yuwen Zhi’s doom was certain.Read manga at our MangaBob.com
Yuwen Zhi had been involved in crimes related to attempted usurpation several times, and on this occasion, he had even schemed to murder his own son. In addition, driven by wild ambition, he had also conspired with a Gu master to murder the emperor and usurp the throne. All these crimes were punishable by death.
Two cups of poisoned wine ended Yuwen Zhi’s and the Gu master’s lives. Nobody raised any objections.
Afterward, Yuwen Feng brought Yuwen Zhi’s body back and held a joint funeral for him and Yuwen Qi.
The service lasted seven days before the two of them were buried.
During the seven-day funeral, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had privately paid a visit to Yuwen Feng’s residence to offer their condolences, and on that day, Yuwen Feng and Yuwen Tong talked confidentially with each other for almost an hour. Yuwen Tong had appeared fairly pleased when leaving.
The day after the burial, Yuwen Feng went back to the Ministry of Rites to work, looking even more unsparing than before, but he seemed much more energetic than he used to be. The Ministry of Rites had descended into disarray, but after his return, things were soon in good order again.
…
Everything in the capital city returned to the previous state of bustle and peace, and all officials were fully occupied with preparations for the upcoming imperial wedding.
The wedding robes of the two of them had been finished as a top priority. When the robes were delivered to them, Ling Zhang was somewhat astonished at the sight of them.
Although he had been supervising the making of the wedding robes all along, it had never crossed his mind that the end products would be so…
‘Stunning.’
Yuwen Tong hadn’t taken his eyes off the robes since the moment he’d caught sight of them. He directly had the servants leave, shut the doors of the imperial bedchamber, drew Ling Zhang into the inner chamber and started undressing him.
“You… What are you doing? This is daytime.” Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance caused by the charm of the robes.
Yuwen Tong leaned over and whispered beside his ear, “Trying on our robes, of course. They’re delivered here so that we could try them on to see if there are any parts of them that need to be altered.”
Ling Zhang heaved a sigh of relief, but before he finished the sigh, Yuwen Tong added in a hushed voice, “What else did you think I was going to do, uh?”
Ling Zhang, “…”
Yuwen Tong reached out a hand to unfasten Ling Zhang’s belt, stroking his waist. “Tomorrow you’ll move out of this palace, and I’ll have to spend several nights in bed alone. Even if I want to do something right now, couldn’t you just humor me? We won’t be able to sleep together until the wedding ceremony.”
Ling Zhang flushed at his explicit words. “What are you talking about? Have you not had enough of it in the past few days?”
He had some time ago intended to move back to the Ling Mansion, but Yuwen Tong had delayed it again and again, which was why he was still staying in this palace. Every time Yuwen Tong had tried to delay it, Ling Zhang had wanted to harden his heart and refuse, but Yuwen Tong had put on an injured look every time, and then Ling Zhang, powerless to say no, had had no choice but to let Yuwen Tong do what he wanted, but this time around, he really couldn’t continue staying in the palace any longer. He must return to the Ling Mansion.
Because of this, Yuwen Tong had been acting like a sex addict over the past few days. There had been several occasions when Ling Zhang had felt as though he was going to die on that bed, and that feeling had been particularly strong the night before.
“I have to go back home tomorrow, so you need to control yourself tonight. Otherwise my grandfather and the others might notice and it’ll be so embarrassing,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong put on the injured look again. “Why do you have to move back home?”
Ling Zhang replied, “It’s a convention, isn’t it? Besides, I’ve barely spent any time with my family ever since they came to this city, and after marrying you, I’ll have even fewer chances to stay at home, so I need to take advantage of this opportunity to spend as much time with them as possible.”
Yuwen Tong said, “This palace is quite close to the Ling Mansion. You may go back there to keep them company any time you want. It’s not really necessary to move out.”
Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong resignedly. Yuwen Tong had said this many times, and he had explained to Yuwen Tong many times.
“That’s different. Okay, let’s drop this. If you want to try the robes on, you need to hurry. It’s inappropriate to keep those people out there waiting too long.”
Yuwen Tong silently disrobed Ling Zhang, manifestly unhappy.
Ling Zhang looked at him. Eventually, not knowing what else he could do, he took Yuwen Tong’s face in his hands and kissed him. “Stop sulking, okay? This will be my home after the wedding, and we’ll have a lifetime to be together. Before that, you’ve got to let me spend some time with my family. I don’t want to regret not having done it some day.”
A wave of comfort swept over Yuwen Tong at the words “This will be my home after the wedding”. His spirits rose instantaneously, and it showed. With a smile curling the corners of his mouth, he said, “Okay, then. I think you do have a point.”
Ling Zhang almost dissolved into chuckle as he realized that Yuwen Tong had gone to all this trouble just to have him say those words.
“Soon you’ll be my man, and this place will be our home. For your information, if you make me unhappy, I’ll leave you,” said Ling Zhang, eyes on Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong held him. “That won’t happen. If you dare forsake me, I’ll track you down and seize you even if you flee to the world’s end, and then I’ll tied you up and you’ll never be able to move a single pace away from me for the rest of your life.”
Ling Zhang’s whole body was suffused with a reddish color. “Okay, okay. I get it. Let go of me so I can try on the robes.”
His white-skinned body showed a sharp contrast with Yuwen Tong who was fully dressed. Originally Yuwen Tong hadn’t thought of anything sexual, but as he looked down at Ling Zhang’s body which was now pinkish, he swallowed hard and stiffened, unable to move an inch.
Ling Zhang could tell at a glance what he was thinking about. “Give me the robes. Hurry.”
If he let Yuwen Tong continue staring at his body, Yuwen Tong would definitely lose control.
Seeing that Yuwen Tong was still gazing at him unblinkingly, Ling Zhang hastened past Yuwen Tong to the table, took up the robes and started putting them on.
Yuwen Tong came to himself and immediately walked over. In a husky voice, he said, “Let me help you.”
These were wedding robes. On no account would Yuwen Tong miss the opportunity to clothe Ling Zhang in them one by one and feast his eyes at the same time.
Because of their uniquely noble identities, the wedding robes of Ling Zhang, the future empress, were quite resplendent and elaborate, and the number of layers of them were astounding. From the underwear to the overgarment, Yuwen Tong patiently helped Ling Zhang put them on one by one, neatly robing Ling Zhang in a gentle manner.
These robes were not thick. Despite the number of layers, they still perfectly showed the contours of Ling Zhang’s body – his slim waist, full peaky butt, broad shoulders, and narrow straight back. Ling Zhang didn’t look coquettish at all in this set of robes which was designed for men but fairly feminine in style. His brows and eyes were so dashing as though they’d been drawn in black ink. The red color provided a foil for his skin, making it seem as though it were glowing.
When helping Ling Zhang fasten his belt, Yuwen Tong felt as if he were wrapping a present, a rare unique treasure that only he could obtain. His eyes seemed to bore into Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang looked down at the robes. Unaware of the overall effect, he asked, “How do I look? Do you think they’re becoming? Anything needing altering?”
Staring fixedly at him, Yuwen Tong looked as though he’d lost the power of speech.
Having received no reply, Ling Zhang furrowed his brows, shifted his gaze to Yuwen Tong and fell speechless.
A flush spread to the edges of his ears.
He made towards the full-length mirror on the other side. When he got close to the mirror, he was somewhat astonished as well, gazing into the mirror at himself in a faintly dreamy way. Was that really him?
Set off by the red wedding robes, his brows and eyes looked exceptionally pretty. This was the first time that Ling Zhang had come to realize that his looks were not bad…
But would he strike people as a trifle patronizing in these robes?
“Do I look a little unapproachable in these robes? Should I try another set of a different style? You–”
Before he could finish the sentence, Yuwen Tong cuddled him from behind tightly. Yuwen Tong’s eyes met Ling Zhang’s in the mirror. “You look terrific. You don’t need to strike anybody as approachable. I’m the only one whose opinion you should care about.”
Ling Zhang’s ears were burning. “Stop hugging me so tight or you’ll crumple my robes. If you think I look good in this set, I’ll take it. You should go change into yours and let me see if it fits you. Hurry.”
But Yuwen Tong didn’t move. “There’s no hurry.”
After saying this, he took the headwear off Ling Zhang’s head and slackened his bun. The black hair instantly cascaded down, rippling like premium silk. Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong in confusion. “Why did you bare my head?”
Yuwen Tong gazed at Ling Zhang who had his hair hanging loose, entranced. The contrast between the black of his hair and the red of his robes was such an intense visual stimulus of breathless beauty that it seemed to be searing Yuwen Tong’s eyes. He took the hair in his hands and started slowly stroking it. After a while, he began to comb it with his fingers, his movements gentle and… Ling Zhang lowered his head, flicked a glance at it and was instantaneously turned on by the sight of his hand movements, his mouth and throat dry. “You–”
Yuwen Tong abruptly took him in his arms, their bodies pressing against each other tight, Ling Zhang’s jet-black hair flying up before slowly dropping, their lips locked.
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